PEORIA — Having been a young adult during the Vietnam War era, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin remembered Friday how that conflict started with the White House sending military advisers to Southeast Asia.

As such, he said Friday, he said he plans to keep a close eye on the situation in Iraq, saying he is firmly against sending more U.S. troops above the possible 300 requested by the Obama administration to act as advisers to the Iraqi military and to help protect U.S. assets in the country.

“We left, saying to the Iraqis, take care of your own country and look where they are today, it’s falling apart,” he said, noting he was one of 23 senators who voted against in the initial invasion of Iraq. “The president has said first we are going to defend our embassy and Americans there. Now he has asked for 300 to come in as trainers and advisers.

“I am going to watch that very, very carefully. I do not want to see the American profile in Iraq expand. This country, Iraq, has decided its own future and we cannot risk any more American lives in that process,” he said.

The crisis there now is squarely one for the Iraqis to solve, he said.

“What’s next? That’s where I am going to draw the line. We can’t send in enough American soldiers to make the president of Iraq try to build a unified nation,” he said. “We can’t send in enough American soldiers to make the Iraqis love their country more than they hate their neighbor and we can’t send in enough American soldiers to end a war that has divided the religion of Islam for 13 centuries.”

Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @andykravetz or read his military blog, inFormation, on pjstar.com.